Assassins

An Islamic sect which, under al-Hasan ibn-as-Sabbah, seized Alamut castle near the Caspian in 1090 and began a campaign of terror against orthodox (Sunni) authorities. The name means zealot but took on its present significance of politically motivated murderers through the sect's use of targeted, sometimes suicidal murders. Assassin missionary activity established the sect in Syria where in the 1130s it profited from conflict between Islam and the crusaders in the frontier area of the Ansariyah mountains to establish themselves in an enclave guarded by castles, of which the greatest was Masyaf. Their leader in the last quarter of the 12th century was Sinan ibn-Salman, the ‘Old Man of the Mountains’, who died c.1194.

Assassination enabled them to safeguard their mountain enclave in a world torn between Christians and Muslims. They killed Madud of Damascus in 1113, Bori of Damascus in 1131, Raymond II of Tripoli c.1130, Conrad of Montferrat in 1192, and they twice tried to kill Saladin. By the 13th century they were a recognized part of Syrian politics and their enclave paid tribute to the Hospitallers. In 1256 the Mongols destroyed Alamut and by 1273 their castles in Syria had fallen to the Mameluke Baybars, extinguishing the Assassins as an independent force.

Interestingly the Spanish equivalent word, sicarios, refers back to the Jewish sect of assassins exterminated at Masada 1, 000 years before Hasan ibn-as-Sabbah.

Bibliography

• Lewis, B., The Assassins: a Radical Sect in Islam (London, 1967)

— John France